Major Pentatonic Scale in 12 Keys - 1 Octave
Major Pentatonic scales work well over any blues, as a riff, over any major chord, and especially the major 6 or major 6/9 chord.
A little harmonic history - many of the tunes written before 1930 used 6 chords instead of 7th chords. They did not start adding the 7th, 9th, 11th, or 13th to major chords until the 1930s. So, when you play old tunes, from the 1920s and 1930s, the major pentatonic scale works well over the major chords.
Check out this recording by Ella Fitzgerald. The horn riffs are all pentatonic. The melody of Honeysuckle Rose utilizes the pentatonic scale. Performers will often use a tritone sub the second measure, which is basically up a half step, for Honeysuckle Rose. The entire song is pentatonic in nature, and the opening measure is a great lick to play over any 2 5 1.
Download a PDF of the Major Pentatonic Scale in 12 keys for 1 octave below.
